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/sˈərkəmstˌænsəz/ /sˈərkəmstˌænsɪz/ Listen

noun

circumstance n.

That which attends, or relates to, or in some way affects, a fact or event; an attendant thing or state of things. "The circumstances are well known in the country where they happened."

An event; a fact; a particular incident. "The sculptor had in his thoughts the conqueror weeping for new worlds, or the like circumstances in history."

Circumlocution; detail. (Obs.) "So without more circumstance at all I hold it fit that we shake hands and part."

pl. Condition in regard to worldly estate; state of property; situation; surroundings. "When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations."

Not a circumstance, of no account. (Colloq.)

Under the circumstances, taking all things into consideration.

Synonyms: Event; occurrence; incident; situation; condition; position; fact; detail; item. See Event.

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Etymology of 'Circumstances'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Circumstances" Quotes from Famous Books

... such circumstances will readily understand that everything depends upon "luck;" one man may beat the forest assiduously and vainly for five or six weeks; another will be successful on the first day. Thus whilst I, without any fault of my own, utterly failed in shooting a gorilla, although I saw him and heard him, and ...

— Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 1 • Richard F. Burton

... Sir,—Circumstances imperatively oblige me to do that from which I should willingly be excused—reply to the observations of J.I., inserted in page 75. of the last Saturday's Number of the "NOTES ...

— Notes & Queries, No. 6. Saturday, December 8, 1849 • Various

... one of the persons before me, and then at the other, and then at both together, as a father would look, indicating his distressful parental feelings under such afflicting circumstances. ...

— Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes • Garrick Mallery

... the note prefixed to the reprint of Swift's "Letter concerning the Sacramental Test," the circumstances under which this "Letter to a Member of Parliament in Ireland" was written, are explained (see vol. iv., pp. 3-4, of present edition). The Godolphin ministry was anxious to repeal the Test Act in Ireland, ...

— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol. VII - Historical and Political Tracts--Irish • Jonathan Swift

... infamy—that God-defying, Bible-abhorring sacrilege will be civilly allowed? Because the bell-wether of The Tribune, accompanied by a phalanx of blue petticoats, is installed as the grand-master of outrages, is that any reason for personal respect and public humiliation? In view of all the aggravating circumstances of the case, we congratulate the foolhardy fanatics on getting off as easy as they did; and we commend the forbearance of the considerate crowd in not carrying their coercive measures to extremes, ...

— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

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